Bleed the Same
by 1stBatgirl
Summary: Wanda Maximoff is still mourning her brother's death and Bucky Barnes is trying to fix his broken mind. Can two broken people find the healing they need in each other? A Winter Witch story.
1. Chapter 1

_We are,_

 _we're trying to belong,_

 _pick up the pieces left of us._

 _\- Circles, Greta Svabo Bech_

The room was quiet as the last person shuffled out, leaving Wanda Maximoff alone at last. Her eyes sparkled with unshed tears. _Just breathe. In, out. In, out._ She was tired of crying. Tired of emotions. Would it be so terrible if she didn't have them?

The anniversary of her brother's passing a year ago was today. The grief felt like it would overwhelm her. Her eyes fixed on the blank wall and she thought about her brother. Pietro had been the light of her life. Through the deaths of their parents and through Hydra's painful experiments, knowing that she had her brother with her had gotten her through.

Now that he was gone, how was she supposed to feel?

Everyone thought that she had moved on. And she had. But losing him had been like losing part of her soul and that was something that no one could ever completely recover from.

The Avengers had accepted her into their family readily as she had known that they would. They were all good people, no matter what they had done in their past.

Wanda took one more deep breath. _All right, time to get up._

She rose from her slumped position on the leather couch in the living room of Avengers Tower. Her foot had fallen asleep from sitting so long in one position and she stood still for a moment to collect herself.

It was still hard to accept that she lived in this amazing place, with its seemingly never ending food supply and luxurious plush furniture. If Pietro were here, he would be dashing to and fro, touching this and that and talking a mile a minute.

It was her fault, Wanda had decided a long time ago. If she had been faster, she could have saved him. Could have stopped the bullets from piercing his body. She had felt every one of them as if the bullets were hitting her instead of him. Her telepathy was a curse. Wanda had experienced every emotion that Pietro had before he finally collapsed on that cold ground.

As she walked towards the door, Wanda thought over the events of the day and decided that Pietro would have approved of his memorial dinner. It had been a quiet affair, with just the Avengers. That included their newest recruit, James(or Bucky as Steve called him)Barnes.

He had sat silently in the corner, observing everyone from a safe distance. Wanda was just grateful that he had come to show his support to her even though they had yet to say more than two words to each other.

On the way to her spacious room, Wanda ran her hand along the wall, feeling the bumps in it and recalling that she and Pietro used to do the same thing at their old house. But that was before everything went wrong. Before Hydra, before the Battle of Sokovia, before…..

Wanda opened her door and tried to clear her head of such thoughts. Pietro wouldn't want her to be so melancholy on his account.

Sighing, Wanda leaned against the doorpost. She wanted, no _needed_ to be around another human being. She was tired of being alone. Mentally, she ran through the list of people that she could talk with.

Natasha and Clint were likely sparring in the training room like they always did on Thursday afternoons when they weren't on a mission.

Thor had gone to visit Jane right after the memorial dinner had ended and likely wouldn't be back until late tonight.

That left Bruce, Tony, Steve, and Bucky.

Wanda made her way down the lab where she was sure that Tony and Bruce were doing some scientific experiment. The telltale sounds of lab equipment clinking together told Wanda what she had already expected.

She stood in the hallway outside the door, listening to their animated voices for a few moments before moving on.

She wandered around for a few more minutes(because there was quite a lot of room to wander in Avengers Tower) and eventually came upon Steve. He was in one of the training rooms with his back facing the door.

He had his boxing gloves on, but he was leaning against the punching bag, eyes closed. Wanda felt sorry for him. He was in pain; not physical pain, but emotional.

She knew that Steve always tried to be so strong for everyone else, but inside the man was broken. Wanda shook her head. Sometimes she wished that she couldn't sense what other people were feeling.

Sounds of Natasha and Clint sparring filtered in from the other room, but Steve gave no sign that he heard them.

Wanda couldn't help herself and peeked in the other training room.

Natasha's red hair was tied back and she had a look of fierce concentration on her face. Clint's face was equally intense and his short blond hair was soaked with sweat.

Natasha faked right, changed directions and punched towards Clint with the speed of a snake. A lesser fighter would have been knocked down by the force of her punch, but Clint's reflexes were too quick.

He grabbed Natasha's wrist and twisted her so her back was against his chest and he had her in a seemingly inescapable hold.

To Wanda's surprise, Natasha made no attempt to get out; she merely grinned up at Clint. "Not bad." She praised, which was rare for Natasha.

Clint smiled back at her and as they stayed that way for several seconds, Wanda got the feeling that maybe she shouldn't be watching this private moment between the two of them.

As Wanda turned to go, she heard Natasha flip Clint on his back and he let out a loud 'oof'.

"You let your guard down." Natasha reprimanded him unnecessarily.

"Yeah, yeah." Clint responded, but there was a smile in his voice.

Wanda couldn't help but smile a little too as she left. She wouldn't mind a relationship like theirs. No one was sure exactly just what their relationship was, but Wanda could tell that they cared very much for each other.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she almost didn't see the light in the living room. Wanda looked around the doorway and saw Bucky watching TV. Well if you could call it watching. He was actually just staring at it, with glazed over eyes.

She stepped back to leave him alone, but she must have made some noise, because Bucky's head snapped up and he met her eyes.

Of course someone who had been trained to be an assassin would hear even the smallest sound. Standing there in the doorway, Wanda felt a little awkward so she finally went in and plopped down on her favorite chair, a deep blue chair that was the comfiest out of all of them.

She pulled her legs up beneath her and wrapped her arms around her knees. Silence permeated the room and Wanda quickly searched her mind for something to say.

Clearing her throat, Wanda nervously adjusted her position on the chair once more, setting her feet on the ground, before attempting to start a conversation.

"So, what are you watching?" She began, almost timidly. His eyes met hers again.

"I'm not sure." He finally said.

From her chair, Wanda wasn't in a good position to see the TV so she just nodded and fell silent.

After a bit, Bucky spoke again. "Would you like to watch something else?"

His politeness surprised Wanda. Never had she thought that he was a monster, even despite all that she had heard about him. But after all the years he had been with Hydra, she wasn't exactly expecting him to have good manners.

Suddenly, she realized that it had been a long time since he had asked his question. "Oh, um, sure that would be nice."

She moved from her chair to the other side of the couch that he was sitting on and picked up the remote. He was watching her curiously and Wanda wondered if he was aware that he was staring. She supposed that assessing the people and surroundings around him had once been his job, so she shouldn't think his behavior was too strange.

After flipping through various channels, she finally settled on a movie called 'Ever After.'

The movie was enjoyable and she found herself smiling along with the characters. Wanda glanced at Bucky to see if he was still watching. His eyes were still on the screen, but his mind seemed a hundred miles away.

Wanda almost broke her code of honor and used her telepathy to see what he was thinking, but at the last minute, she stopped herself. It just wasn't right. Maybe she could try the direct approach.

"Are you all right?" She asked.

His face remained blank and he didn't answer.

"Mr. Barnes?" Wanda said a little louder.

He started and blinked several times as if clearing himself from a daze. "Bucky."

"Excuse me?" She asked, not quite sure that she had heard right.

"You can call me Bucky." Bucky said, meeting her gaze. She was surprised at how blue his eyes were. Wanda felt unexpected sympathy well up. Those eyes hid decades of pain behind them.

Bucky didn't break their eye contact. He tilted his head, as if considering something. "Are you reading my mind?"

Wanda was slightly offended. "I wouldn't do that without someone's permission."

He nodded faintly and looked like he was trying to decide if she was telling the truth.

Wanda realized that he hadn't had a lot of people to trust in the past. For most of his life up until now, he had lived among enemies and men who lied to get him to do what they wanted.

"I promised myself that I would never do that." Wanda added gently, trying to show him with her eyes that she was sincere. "I don't much like seeing people's innermost thoughts and memories anyway." She admitted quietly.

"Some memories are best left unseen." Bucky said, and his face tightened a fraction of an inch. He stood abruptly. "I need to talk to Steve. Excuse me."

"Oh, of course." Wanda watched as he left the room and hoped that she hadn't made him upset.

He was so hard to read because he always had that mask of indifference in place. Wanda stared after him for a second longer and it registered that that conversation was the most words they had ever exchanged.

She switched off the TV and lay down on the couch, not ready to go back to her room just yet. The nightmares that she had had directly after Pietro's death had been happening again lately.

Wanda had almost fallen asleep when she heard someone near the doorway. She sleepily cracked her eyes open and peered through the darkness that had fallen. "Who's there?"

Steve stepped into her line of vision, looking like he had come directly from the training room. "Hey, Wanda. Sorry, I didn't see you in here at first."

Smoothing her hair down, Wanda sat up and tried to contain the yawn that threatened to escape.

Steve's blue eyes lit up with amusement. "Tired?" He asked, folding his arms across his chest and grinning at her.

There was no trace of the pain from earlier and Wanda admired his ability to place his emotions aside for a while.

"Yes." Wanda agreed, not willing to tell him why she was really there. But Steve didn't ask anything else. He merely sat on the couch next to her and turned the TV back on.

"Will it bother you if I watch TV?" Steve raised an eyebrow inquiringly in her direction.

Wanda smiled and shook her head. "No, it won't." She told him, grateful to no longer be alone.

They both settled in to watch some strange show where four people were forced to make a meal from a basket of odd ingredients and do well or face being eliminated.

It didn't take long for her to fall back asleep, with Steve sitting next to her, acting as a guard from her nightmares. Maybe tonight, her sleep would be peaceful.

….

Bucky paced up and down the floor in his room, trying to quiet his growing anxiety. His mind wasn't his own these days. The memories of what the Winter Soldier – of what _he'd_ \- done to those people flashed in his mind.

Every day and every night the images haunted him. The screaming tortured his already fragile mind. He couldn't stop thinking about how they had died, the cruelty that he had inflicted.

Steve had told Bucky that it wasn't him, that he hadn't been in control of his own body. But he had still done it, still committed those awful acts.

He collapsed onto the bed and thought of the Scarlet Witch, or Wanda. She had looked so small and vulnerable sitting next to him on the couch, her brown eyes full of sadness. What if he hurt her too? He couldn't trust himself because he didn't even know his own mind.

On the pretense of talking to Steve, he had left her there, looking confused, and gone to the punching bag. But punching it had given him no relief. Nothing did.

Was he a monster? Did he even belong here with the Avengers? He appreciated their kindness and their protection from the government, but he almost wanted to turn himself in. Whatever they did to him, he was sure that he deserved it.

With a deep sigh, he lay down on the bed. Knowing that sleep was impossible, he stayed there, looking up at his ceiling and waiting for the dawn.

* * *

 _A.n. Hello everyone! If you've decided to read my story, thank you! Reviews are the best thing ever; they seriously make my day! I will try to update once a week, but if I don't, it's only because I'm working extra hard on the chapter for you guys :D I hope you all enjoy taking this journey with me, because I'm definitely having fun writing this story._

 _Until next time, 1stBatgirl_


	2. Chapter 2

Wanda's first thought as she cracked her eyes open the next morning was that her neck was unbelievably stiff. She sat up and stretched, looking around at her surroundings and realizing that she had slept the whole night in the TV room.

As she shifted to stand up, a blanket slid off of her. She smiled. Steve must have covered her with it before he left. Pietro would have done the same thing. Wanda was grateful to have Steve in her life. He was so good to her. Not a replacement for her brother, but a good substitute.

She walked out the door, after carefully folding the blanket and went to her room to get a shower. She probably didn't look very good after staying the while night on the couch. The warm water wakened her up all the way and she closed her eyes, breathing in the steam.

The hot water never failed to soothe her and she would often take showers when she was feeling upset. After picking out a red day dress to wear, Wanda made her way to the kitchen where she knew she would find at least one Avenger making breakfast.

Natasha glanced up at Wanda as she came into the room and nodded at her, before going back to her coffee. Wanda hadn't had a lot of communication with Natasha, but she respected the red haired assassin and felt that the feeling was mutual. Natasha was one person who definitely wouldn't judge Wanda for her past.

Perusing the cabinets thoughtfully, Wanda decided a poptart would be suitable. She had just taken it out of the box when she heard someone behind her.

"Really? A poptart for breakfast?" Clint scolded teasingly. "That's not nutritional."

Wanda turned around with a grin. "And what you are eating is nutritional?" She raised her eyebrow at the two donuts he held in his hands.

"Well, of course it is." He winked at her and plucked another donut from the box on the counter, holding it out. "Come on, you know you want one."

Wanda obliged him and selected a chocolate one instead of the strawberry one he was offering. At Clint's offended look, she laughed and took an extra big bite out of her donut, enjoying the way the chocolate melted on her tongue.

She and Pietro hadn't had this luxury when growing up, and certainly not at Hydra. Because of this, Wanda wanted to savor every bite.

Heavy footsteps sounded at the door and everyone looked up in surprise to see Nicky Fury himself enter.

"Director." Clint nodded at him, looking as professional as one could when holding a donut and with a dusting of powder on their top lip.

Fury stood with his arms crossed behind him, and surveyed them silently. His black eye patch wrinkled as he frowned in concentration. Wanda had always wondered how he had gotten that injury, but she was far too scared to ask him.

"Sorry to interrupt everyone's breakfast." He said smoothly. "I need to see all of you in the briefing room immediately. It's important." As abrupt as ever, he swept out of the room, his cape billowing out behind him.

"How does his cape do that?" Clint muttered to himself, shoving the last of his donut into his mouth.

Natasha joined him at the door and they both beckoned to Wanda, who followed Clint's example and quickly ate the rest of her donut, before following them out the door.

Wanda fell into step behind the two assassins and it wasn't long before they were joined by the rest of the Avengers, evidently summoned as well.

Bruce looked like he had been up for hours. His shirt was all ruffled and his eyes blazed with excitement. He only had that look when he had had a scientific breakthrough. He probably wasn't happy to be called away from his work, but the Avengers came first.

Tony, grumpy as always in the morning, was still in his pajamas, and grumbling to himself about how even birds knew that this was too early to be up.

Bucky and Steve were in the rear, deep in conversation. Bucky looked angry and Steve was trying to calm him down.

Before Wanda could convince herself not to, she had dropped back a little to hear their conversation.

"You know what has to happen." Bucky was saying. His blue eyes were intense, but it didn't seem to faze Steve.

"Bucky, I swore I would protect you. I trust you, even if you don't trust yourself." Steve told him. "You haven't hurt us yet and you won't as long as you can help it."

"Exactly." Bucky put in exasperatedly. "There are times when I won't be able to help it!"

Right at that moment, both men looked up and saw Wanda walking in front of them, trying to pretend like she wasn't listening.

Wanda's face flushed red and she smiled apologetically at them. She faced forward again, embarrassed beyond words.

They didn't speak again and everyone slowly filed into the room, choosing random places at the long table. Wanda ended up between Clint and Steve.

Nick Fury took his place at the head of the table and everyone waited in anticipation. "We've got a mission." He began without preamble. "One of our own has been taken."

"By who?" Bruce asked, leaning forward intently.

"Hydra." Fury said, disgust plain on his face.

"But I destroyed Hydra." Steve protested, looking around at the others as if he wanted them to back him up. "All of it."

"Well, you know what they say." Fury deadpanned. "Cut off one head, two more grow back and all that. Anyway, this agent has important information that cannot get into enemy hands. If it does, well..." Fury stopped and looked almost disconcerted.

Wanda was alarmed. She'd never seen the man anything else but composed.

"It certainly wouldn't be good." He finished briskly. "And, before you ask, it's best if you don't know what information the agent contains."

"What?" Tony scoffed, still looking grumpy. "We have to go on a secret mission and you won't even tell us what for? May I remind you that we don't work for Shield?"

"And may I remind _you_ that retrieving this agent is every bit as important as your hero work?" Fury scowled, making him look even more stubborn than usual.

Tony shut his mouth, though he still disapproved.

"And all of you won't be going." Fury continued. "Two people have to go undercover and smuggle the agent out. Taking Hydra head on won't work."

Clint and Natasha exchanged glances, as they were the obviously the best choice. "I would, Fury." Natasha said. "But Clint and I are already working on a mission."

The room fell into pandemonium as everyone put out their own suggestions for who should go.

"I think Wanda should go on this one." Clint said suddenly and everyone stopped talking to look at him. He shrugged. "What? She hasn't been on an undercover mission before. She should learn the ropes."

Fury clearly didn't agree. "We need someone with more experience."

Wanda tried not to be offended that they were discussing her when she was in the same room as them. "I would like to try." She said softly, but with determination. "I can learn fast."

Clint gave her a reassuring pat on the knee and sent her a smile which Wanda returned.

Fury looked at her thoughtfully. Wanda wasn't sure that he trusted her entirely because of what she had done in the past. She could only hope that she had proven herself trustworthy. Excitement flared in her at the thought of going on an undercover mission. Of course, she'd trained for these kinds of missions, but it was so different actually experiencing it.

"Fine, but I want Steve to go with her." Fury said, his tone brooking no argument.

"Sir, I'd like Bucky to go with us to." Steve put in evenly, ignoring Bucky's sudden frown. "He's probably the most experienced with undercover work out of the three of us."

"What about those trigger words in his head?" Fury asked, folding his arms across his chest and frowning. "If anybody says those, he's gone. And he could attack anyone at anytime."

Wanda winced inwardly at the harshness of his words and glanced at Bucky. Bucky's face was impassive and he continued to look at Steve.

Steve visibly bristled and his tone turned hard. "I trust him. Everything will be fine. He won't compromise the mission." His steely blue eyes looked back into Fury's stubborn ones and Wanda saw that Fury had already lost this fight.

"If something goes wrong, Rogers, it's on your head." Fury said finally, lifting his hands in a gesture of surrender. I'll brief the three of you on what needs to be done tomorrow morning before you leave."

He nodded at them all and left, leaving an uncomfortable silence in his wake.

"Well." Tony clapped his hands together and stood. "I'll just be going then." He had mentioned that he had a date with Pepper that afternoon.

Everyone seemed to take that as their cue to leave and soon the room was empty except for Wanda, Bucky, and Steve.

Bucky turned to look at Steve and Wanda saw that he was upset. "Steve, that was stupid."

Wanda blinked and hid a smile behind her hand at his no nonsense tone. This was not the time to laugh.

Steve sighed, running a hand over his face and leaning back in his seat wearily. It was clear that they'd had this argument before. "You can't just stay here all the time, Buck. You need to get out of the tower. You're an Avenger now."

Steve kept going, not letting Bucky interrupt. Neither of them seemed to notice Wanda sitting there, or maybe they just didn't care. "I think it would be good for you to go on a mission. See how you can help-"

Bucky cursed and hit the table with his metal hand, splintering the end of the table. "You know I can't control it! I could kill you! Or her!" He angrily pointed at Wanda, sitting motionless on Steve's left.

"You're better than what they did to you." Steve said quietly. "I'll help you if something goes wrong, but nothing will. You'll be fine."

Bucky clamped his mouth shut, frustrated. His chair loudly scooted back across the floor as he stood up abruptly. "I will never forgive myself if I hurt any of you." He said, before stalking out the door.

Wanda listened to the sound of his footsteps fading. She had never seen him that upset before. In fact, she'd never seen him angry, ever. She faced Steve and saw that Steve was already looking at her.

"What?" She finally said, after he didn't say anything for a while.

"Can you help me with something?" Surprisingly, he seemed hesitant. He'd never been that way around her before.

"Of course." She cocked her head to the side, waiting.

"I know that you have telepathy. Do you think that maybe you could help Bucky with those trigger words in his head? Do you think you could remove them?"

Wanda gulped. She'd only had her powers for about a year and a half and she wasn't all that proficient with them. There were so many things that could go wrong when she was messing around with someone's head.

"I could try." She met his gaze once more and saw how hopeful he looked. "I will try my best, but if something goes wrong…."

"I trust you." Steve reassured her, looking very relieved that she had agreed.

There it was again. The trust thing. He had said the same thing to Bucky. Maybe Steve gave out his trust too easily, Wanda thought, looking at his completely honest and open face.

Not everyone was as good as he was and not everyone deserved his trust. Nevertheless, since he had seen fit to give her his trust, she would try her best to live up to his expectations.

Wanda retreated to her room, after making some excuse to the others about being tired. She seemed to end up in her room a lot these days. Maybe a little meditation would help her to get her thoughts in order. One would think that having telepathy would aid her with this, but it didn't. Her thoughts were always too chaotic.

Opening the blinds on the window, Wanda tilted her head back, liking the feel of the sun on her face. Pietro had always preferred the day time, while she was partial to the night herself.

She put on the calming piano music that she listened to when trying to relax and closed her eyes. If Steve needed her help, then she would do everything she could.

Hopefully Bucky would be okay with it.

…..

Bucky looked at Steve incredulously and laughed once, humorlessly. "You want someone else to go inside my head and mess around with everything in there?"

"It's Wanda." Steve sat on the chair facing Bucky's bed. "She's an Avenger, not Hydra. Well, at least, not anymore. And she can help you."

Bucky didn't want to admit that he felt uneasy about someone messing with head again. Who knows what she could do with it? She could just make everything worse, even if she didn't mean to.

"At least let her try." Steve said earnestly.

Bucky frowned. "I'll think about it, Steve, okay?"

"That's all I ask. Don't take too long though, because we have to leave tomorrow morning." Steve grinned, clapping him on the shoulder. "We'll be okay, Buck."

Bucky wasn't so sure. But he summoned up an encouraging smile and tried not to think about someone going inside his mind once again.

* * *

 _Hey guys! So sorry for the late update, but life got in the way *cough cough* school *cough cough* anyway, thank you to my reviewer BigBangVIP! Your review brightened my day :) And thank you to the people who followed and added this story to their favorites! Btw, in case you are curious, since I write Wanda with a youngish thought process, she is supposed to be about eighteen(I read that on some marvel wiki). I think it's true though because she seems pretty young, but still mature. I made Wanda nineteen in this story though. Bucky and Steve are about twenty five or so, so not that big of an age gap. If you made it this far through the author's note, I commend you xD. Here's some virtual cookies. Next chapter coming soon!_


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